Apple announces new products and updates to old ones at Macworld 2008

Steve Jobs did not disappoint at today’s Macworld keynote. Below is a summary of the announcements:

iTunes Digital Copy: customers who purchase a DVD of a Fox movie title will also get an iTunes Digital Copy which can be transferred to iTunes and then viewed on anything that connects with iTunes. The first DVD is “Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest,” which is a parody of Star Wars.

New software and price point for Apple TV: starting today Apple TV is $229, and new software coming later this month will let you rent movies on the iTunes Store directly from your widescreen TV–no computer required. By end of February there will be more than 1,000 titles to choose from, including over 100 in high definition with 5.1 Dolby surround sound. DVD-quality Movie Rentals will be $2.99 for older titles and $3.99 for new releases. High-definition versions are $3.99 and $4.99, respectively.

iTunes Movie Rentals from just about every movie studio: As mentioned above, you can now rent movies through iTunes and watch them on your Mac or PC, current generation iPods, iPhone and Apple TV. Partnerships with 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM, Lionsgate and New Line Cinema make it all possible.

Firmware 1.1.3 for iPhone: Free update for iPhone will include the ability to find your location, text message multiple people in one message, create Web Clips for your favorite websites, customize your home screen, and watch rented movies from the new iTunes Movie Rentals (see above).

Time Capsule–wireless backup for your Macs: working with Time Machine this allows for you to wirelessly back up all of your Macs. Time Capsule includes a combo 802.11n base station with either a built-in 500GB ($299) or 1TB hard drive ($499).

MacBook Air–the world’s thinnest notebook: Measuring 0.16 inches at its thinnest point, with a height of 0.76 inches, it fits into a manila envelope. The MacBook Air includes a 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, full-size and backlit keyboard, built-in iSight video camera, and a multi-touch trackpad. Inside there’s a 1.6 or 1.8 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache, 2GB memory, 80GB hard drive, 802.11n, and Bluetooth 2.1. The MacBook Air is available for pre-order today starting at $1,799 and it will ship in two weeks.

That’s a whole lot of new stuff coming from Apple so far this year. Let me comment on each one, piece by piece.

MacBook Air: Very cool and I can see this thing flying off the shelves. They also announced a $99 external Superdrive for the MacBook Air and some interesting software that lets you use another computer’s CD/DVD drive. This definitely makes up for the lack of one. I think it’s a great laptop but I personally couldn’t justify the extra money and would stick with the MacBook at this point.

Time Capsule: I like the wireless backup but why can’t it just be software that works with everything I already have? Time Machine encourages me to use my own hard drive so why make me suddenly buy a new hard drive just for this backup?

iPhone Firmware 1.1.3: I love the idea of using hotspots and cellular towers for triangulation. I think this is my favorite announcement, by far. I was really hoping that he was going to say, “the SDK is ready one month early!” but this is pretty good too.

iPod Touch software update: definitely a needed upgrade but charging for it? That’s really bad form and I have to wonder if there will be an attack on Apple for this one, similar to the reduction of the iPhone pricing so soon after release.

iTunes Digital Copy: I don’t buy DVDs so I really don’t need this. I can see the appeal, though, since it’s faster than ripping.

New software and price point for Apple TV: I’ve been thinking about buying something like this for a while now and this price point and functionality may be just what I need. I rent movies and always forget to watch them, so I pay a lot more than $3.99 for them. This will be a welcome addition, though only having 24 hours to complete watching them is a bit of a drag.

iTunes Movie Rentals from just about every movie studio: At least most of the new movies will be out on this service. I think it’s 30 days after DVD release, so that’s not bad at all, though I’d like it to be at the same time as DVD release.

Speak Your Mind

SELFMATRIX

Some cool stuff as usual for Apple but what the hell are they thinking in regards to charging for a iPod software update? Every iPod I’ve owned NEVER had a charge behind an update. What makes the TOUCH so exclusive to this. I can always use web-apps instead but functionality through software updates is a fundamental necessity. Are they testing consumers to see how many will bend over for this? Will the next OS X update come with a fee? Come on Jobs, didn’t you learn your lesson with the iPhone or are you going to give us a $10 refund down the road when you get enough negative e-mail as well.

If I was a Touch owner I would be really disappointed though. That said 1.1.3 is a great step forward for the iPhone

hodar

I’m kind of on the fence on this one.

You bought an MP3 player. If they add new format support, or improve performance, extend battery life, or maybe add some games to the box – that is an update. Updates SHOULD be free, you are simply getting refined performance or extending upon the basic units capabilities.

However, in the case of the iTouch – brand new features are being added. This is no longer a simple MP3 player. You can now send/receive email, GPS, maps and surf the internet. This is taking a MP3 unit and making it a PDA. When you laid your money down; you bought a MP3 player, not a PDA.

Because this adds new functionality, feature sets not associated with a MP3 player – I really don’t have a problem with the cost for the firmware updates.

SalCan

Hodar,
I think that’s the right way to look at the issue, and it’s fair to consider that new functionality is being added. That said, this is just a firmware update. IMO all buyers should be entitled to it, especially since the cost per additional user to apple is essentially zero. Anyway, the cost will be taken care of by additional sales b/c the Touch is now a better device.

Apple should step away from this b/c it’s essentially an early adopter tax. You can’t constantly punish people for buying devices early.

macconvert

The argument with GAAP is that, in the case of 802.11n, if they had simply released the update it would essentially be an admission that they had sold (and recorded revenue) for an incomplete product… which is a no-no.

At least that’s the argument. I’m not sure about the $20 upgrade… the idea is that they are charging for software and understand that it’s now not a media player and is a PDA…

Fine for me as I resisted buying one so far, so I’m ahead of the curve now.

preferthebook

We bought the ipod touch to assist a friend that accidentally ordered it thinking it was an IPHONE. If that doesn’t scream let your assistant order it for you to get it right the first time then I don’t know what it says. Its primary function will be to watch movies on it since lugging a laptop is annoying in airport security. With all gadgets though isn’t there a time to just put them away? So in my house we have laptops, ipods, ipods you can touch, cell phones, and all things just mentioned cannot function in a regulated COMPLIANCE industry without pretending you playing twister and getting approval. The I touch Ipod is nice but I do not see me enjoying several hours of movies on that screen without it damaging my eye sight/eye strain. If it makes the Husband happy–so be it. Upgrading it? Again…compliance issues for the industry we work in so it will not help us but rather get us fired……unless we leave it in the vehicle. I like what a business owner of Swift says, “You have to trust your team and you have to trust each other. If you don’t trust them you should remove them–you’re relying on them to make hourly, minute-by-minute decisions.” I like the IPOD.